Name released of Hudsonville man killed in U.S. 131 pickup-semi crash

MARTIN TOWNSHIP, MI -- Police today identified the fatal victim of a U.S. 131 crash between a pickup and semi-truck as Zachary Oudman, 23, of Hudsonville.

Oudman was a passenger in a pickup hauling a a small work trailer south on the freeway near the Martin exit when it struck the back of a semi-truck that had pulled off to the shoulder.

The crash shut down the southbound lanes of U.S. 131 for several hours and led to at least two other wrecks further north in the southbound lanes because of traffic backups.

State police Trooper Ian Fields on Friday, July 5, said Oudman and the pickup driver, a 19-year-old White Cloud man, were headed to a construction job in the Kalamazoo area when the crash happened about 3 p.m.

The two men worked for a Wayland area company involved in general construction, he said.

Fields said that, for some reason, the Ford 250, appeared to veer toward the back of the trailer before the collision. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the accident, however.